Another Jadhav on the horizon - By Shailendra Awasthi I TOI
Posted on - 12 Sep 2015
Another Jadhav on the horizon
By Shailendra Awasthi
TOI
When hot favourite Moneywise won the opening race at the Pune Racecourse last Sunday, it signalled the arrival of Aditya, the third generation trainer from the respected Jadhav family on the western India stage.
Grandson of multi-classic winner Major K P Jadhav (trainer between 1943-75) and son of Mansingh Jadhav (1970-till date), Aditya admits he felt the pressure of winning.“Yes I felt tremendous pressure until Moneywise won but now after that victory the pressure has gone.Now what remains is hard work and continous hard work. I am prepared for that,“ says the man who will be 31 on December 5.
An architect by profession, Aditya left it behind to pursue his passion four years ago. “After working for three years as an architect, I decided to start my career in racing because I love horses having grown up with them since my childhood,“ says Aditya who earned his training license last April after completing four years of apprenticeship under his father.
The biggest challenge in training, Aditya feels, is picking winners.“It is a challenging profession and if one develops the right eye for a good horse, winners will come by. I am lucky to have my father as a guide which helps me avoid too many contradictory advises other people give,“ Aditya points out.
In an age when many are of the opinion that racing is a dying sport, why did he choose to join this profession? “I don't believe racing is losing its popularity. Yes, there has been some negativity around the sport for some time but it has a lot to do with wrong choices punters make.There are always bad apples in any walk of life. I feel punters should go by their own study. Things go wrong when they go by the khabers which in turn puts professionals under pressure. I feel few bookmakers too contribute to the negativity.“
What about owners? Don't they put pressure on trainers? “I am lucky so far that I have some sporting owners, but I guess in future I will come across such owners too, but one needs to be able to avoid such situations by sticking to the honest methods to help them recover their spending on horses,“ says Aditya.
One of the biggest drawbacks in this profession is lack of a social life as one need to get up well before dawn and work till late afternoon, then back again to the stables in the evenings. “Yes that's true but my wife Ashwini, who too is an architect, knew I always wanted to be a trainer so I have her support which makes my job easier,“ says Aditya.
